English Holiday
by Ravenhowe65
Summary: Inspired from the movie 'Roman Holiday' this is my story about an Italian principessa in England. I swear on my limited writing skill, this is good...


Summary: For five years the King of England, Henry VIII has been looking for a divorce from his Queen, Katherine of Aragon. The pope, Clement VII, has waited for a miraculous solution to this dilemma, if he grants the divorce he will offend the Holy Roman Emperor, who is the nephew of the Queen and if he refuses to grant it, the King of England will begrudge him forever. In the midst of this, Isabella Francesca d'Aragona is growing up in the court of her maternal grandmother, the Dowager Marquis of Mantua surrounded by all the splendours of the Italian culture. Who knows, with her pleasing smile and graceful words, the princess with no kingdom could perhaps, one day, be Queen?

**Disclaimer:** I don't own 'The Tudors' (Showtime does... I think) or history of the people my characters are _very_ loosely based on. The real people such as Henry Tudor, Katherine of Aragon and others are obviously not mine for they were real people and I can't own real people unless I lived some few hundred years ago when owning another human being was okay, even though it was morally wrong. Yes and this story is AU. Ippolita Gonzage really did exist and so did Cesare d'Aragona but they never married, in fact I think Cesare died when he was eight or something and Ippolita became a nun on her own accord (or so my limited resources say, who knows why people did things like becoming a nun? No offense to any who aspires to be one...).

**Characters**

_Isabella Francesca d'Aragona (b.15__th__ January 1514) – daughter of Cesare d'Aragona (b.1497 – 1519), youngest son of Frederick IV of Naples, and Ippolita Gonzaga (b.13th April 1498), daughter of Francesco, Marquis of Mantua and Isabella d'Este (b.1474)._

_Philipe d'Aragona (14th February 1516) - son of Cesare d'Aragona, youngest son of Frederick IV of Naples, and Ippolita Gongaza (b.13th April 1498), daughter of Francesco, Marquis of Mantua and Isabella d'Este (b.1474).  
><em>

_Henry Tudor, King of England (b.28__th__ June 1500) – desperately seeking a divorce from his first wife, in hopes of a male heir since his only surviving child with Katherine is a daughter. _

_Katherine of Aragon, Queen of England (b. December 1492) – wife of Henry, aunt of Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor. She's well educated, pious and has a sense of right and wrong. She will not step down as she knows she is the rightful Queen and her daughter the true heir of England._

_Anne Boleyn (b. 1507) – She is in love with the King but refuses to become his mistress because of what happened to her sister and many other women in court. In a way, she doesn't trust Henry enough but her family thrusts her to the throne anyway._

_Cardinal Thomas Wolsey – Lord Chancellor and greatest advisor of Henry, he want a French alliance with Henry and the late Louis XII's daughter's marriage. _

_Sir Thomas More – Close friend and tutor to the King, he is a second father to Henry. He does not like the Boleyns and will do anything to see them ruined._

_Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk – Best friend to the royal and brother-in-law. He hates Wolsey with a passion but his intentions are good, he supports Katherine but is blinded by his hate towards Wolsey._

And many others…..

* * *

><p><strong>Roma, Italy, May 1527<strong>

It has been a while since we left my uncle's palace in Mantua with my nonna Bella, two years and a month to be exact. Even though I miss La Rocca's beauty, I love it here in Roma. The citiy is more vibrant than Mantua, merchants and flourishing artists flock the holy city while great palazzos and cathedrals makes you wonder if heaven could match the beauty of this city.

But my nurse points out that not all of the city has such great view from their window, that most of the people live in poverty with not enough scudi to feed themselves let alone buy house as great as my nonna's. I cannot imagine how everyone could not have the same life as I have, we are after all God's children and everything should be equally shared. Why do we have gold enough to feed entire Roma but the common people do not have enough to even provide for their own. She answers that it is the way of God to which I reply that God can be unfair sometimes. Estella smiles at my words and goes back to scrubbing the dirt off my skin. The feeling of warm water is heavenly, I tell Estella making her laugh.

"Come Isabella, we have to dry and dress you for today." She lovingly presses the soft cloth against my skin, wiping any trace of water from it. Then she does the same to my blonde mane, slipping the green gown on me when she's done with it. The material is of silk and fur, a gift from my aunt last year.

We were on our way to the chapel for the morning mass when we heard my nonna ushering orders out. It wasn't until then that I noticed the commotion outside. "What is going on out there?" Estella whispered, the fright in her voice was evident.

That made nonna whip her head to out direction, she smiled brilliantly when she saw me running to her. She scooped me up with ease and showered my face with kisses. "How's my principessa?" I giggled at the title she had given me since I could remember. I knew my lineage very well but I also knew that I was a princess without a kingdom, like my father had been a prince without his kingdom. But I was fine with my life, my nonna loved me more than anything in the world, my mother visited me whenever she could and my aunts and uncles spoilt me rotten with their gifts and hugs. I could not ask anything more than to be with my family forever.

"Is everything well, nonna? Who are these people?" I looked around at the many men, women and children hurrying from one direction to other, some women and children huddled in a corner and cried while others formed groups and prayed to our lord.

"There are bad men outside these wells, bambina, these men and women need our protection." she whispered to me, tucking a strand of my golden hair, it was so alike her own. "Will you help nonna, bambina? Can you be a big girl for me today and write to your uncles?" I nodded without hesitation. I loved writing, after dancing and reading that was, and especially to my zios, they always sent a token back.

"I will, nonna." I said with conviction and she let me down. Estella took my hand and took me to my chambers, immediately I started composing letter to my zio Federigo first and then sealing it with my seal started another one to zio Francesco. Nonna Bella had taught me well, if anything bad were to happen I would be responsible to compose letters to my uncles, for they were the commanders of the papal army and therefore our protectors. But something told me that our uncles had failed and nonna was angry with them.

Nonna and zio Federigo had not seen eye to eye for quite some time, two years it had been since we'd left Mantua and not once had zio Federigo met nonna. Zio had a lover, the famous La Bochestta and she did not like nonna or me but zio liked her so he was not very happy that we didn't like her either. I miss zio and mamma, I wish they were here.

It's only when Estella calls me that I seal the finished letter with wax and take it to be sent. I give it to my nonna and she kisses the bridge of my nose to thank me, then sends it away. She trusts me so she does not need to check it, my pride must show because my nonna laughed and ruffled my braid. "Come bambina, I once promised you once that I would show you how to keep your people safe, today is such day." I couldn't help but get excited, I was finally going to learn from nonna. She was a woman of experience and great mind, as well as a loving nonna, anyone would feel honoured to learn from her.

We both walked hand in hand as she showed me how to fortify a palace that was as small as this one. What could one do with guards so less, where would be the easy place to attck and where would be the most difficult? She taught me that a great tactician always prepares for loss, that there should always be another plan that you could fallback on should they breach the palazzo. But she assured me that it would not come to that since my zios would soon be here and ride those men out of Roma. I give a silent pray to God that they come here soon.


End file.
